"Gallade, use Teleport — then hit it with Icy Wind!"
On the battlefield, Gallade was the first to finish recovering after using Life Dew. It was clear that he had far more experience with healing moves than Salamence, who had only just used Roost for the first time. Hearing Rosa's urgent shout and seeing that Salamence's injuries had already faded, Gallade understood exactly what was at stake.
Without wasting a second, Gallade used Teleport and appeared directly in front of the resting Salamence. A cold aura gathered around his body and burst outward as a sharp, biting Icy Wind aimed straight at the curled-up dragon.
Gallade moved quickly. He knew that if he was even a moment too slow, he might lose his only chance to strike.
As it turned out, his timing was just right. The freezing wind reached Salamence the instant the dragon began to stir from its rest.
"Roar~!"
Having just finished using Roost and not yet had the chance to stretch his wings, Salamence was met with a cold wind the moment he opened his eyes. He let out a low, irritated growl.
But that was all it amounted to.
The Icy Wind — on which Rosa and Gallade had placed all their hopes — did little more than make Salamence uncomfortable. If anything, the only visible effect was that it made Salamence sneeze a couple of times.
"How is that possible?!"
Rosa and Gallade were not the only ones struggling to believe what they were seeing. The spectators in the stands were equally shaken. The Sakura group stared in disbelief, while the Cloudspire group, after a brief moment of surprise, quickly snapped back and erupted into cheers.
"David is incredible!"
"Salamence, let's go!"
David allowed himself a quiet sense of satisfaction, though his expression stayed calm. The reaction from Rosa's side was exactly what he had expected. And the result? That, too, fell well within what he had anticipated.
When a Pokémon uses Roost, it temporarily loses its Flying type until the end of the turn. This meant that the Icy Wind — normally a move that would deal four times the usual damage to a Dragon/Flying-type like Salamence — was reduced to only two times effectiveness.
On top of that, ever since Salamence had been a Shelgon, David had used the Moore family's secret training methods to continuously harden and reinforce the shell covering its body. That process had given Salamence a significantly stronger defense against Ice-type attacks.
Now that Salamence had fully evolved, that specially tempered shell on its belly was doing exactly what it had been built to do.
And there was another factor working against Rosa. Gallade did not have the Ice type, so he received no same-type attack bonus from Icy Wind. He was also not a Pokémon that specialized in special attacks.
All of these things together explained what the crowd had just witnessed: an Icy Wind that should have been devastating had ended up doing almost nothing to Salamence. It was barely more effective than a gentle breeze.
Salamence spread his fully healed wings and fixed his gaze on Gallade, who was standing just a few feet away. His eyes narrowed.
You're the one who disturbed my rest.
A fierce light flashed in Salamence's eyes. Flames built up in his open jaws, and he lunged forward, snapping at Gallade with a powerful Fire Fang.
Because Gallade had used Teleport to get close enough to deliver Icy Wind at point-blank range, there was no space left to escape. Caught off guard, Gallade had no time to Teleport away. Instead, he crossed his blade-like arms and used Aqua Cutter to block the attack head-on.
The water-coated blades met the blazing fangs. The moisture shielded Gallade from the burn, and Fire Fang's damage was kept in check — but Salamence did not let go.
He clamped down hard and swung Gallade violently back and forth, thrashing him with brutal force.
Even a typical Salamence would have had the raw strength to overpower Gallade in a close-quarters fight. The Salamence standing here was far beyond typical. This was a lord-class Pokémon.
Caught in those jaws, Gallade had no way to fight back. He struggled with everything he had, pushing through the pain with sheer willpower, but the violent shaking left him no opening to act. Every counter he might have used was stripped away before it could happen.
"Gallade!"
When Salamence decided it was enough, he flung Gallade skyward with a sharp toss. Then, without missing a beat, a Flamethrower shot from his mouth and caught the green-and-white figure squarely in mid-air.
Gallade hit the ground and did not get back up.
Bringing down a strong opponent filled Salamence with energy. He landed in the center of the arena, spread both wings wide, and released a thunderous roar toward the sky — a roar of triumph.
The noble Psychic-type warrior had not found a way to turn the battle around. In the end, victory belonged to David and his Salamence.
Or perhaps more accurately: there had never been an opening to begin with.
Down in the stands, the Sakura group fell completely silent. Their heads dropped. The energy had drained out of all of them, and no one seemed willing to speak first. The atmosphere around them felt heavy.
Not that anyone on the other side of the arena was paying attention to that.
"Yes! We won!"
"David, that was amazing!"
"Salamence is so cool!"
"I am Salamence's number one fan! Woof~!"
The students from First High burst into cheers, celebrating David and Salamence's performance with great enthusiasm. Though it had to be said — some of those cheers were getting a little strange.
The rest of the day's schedule moved along without any drama.
After being defeated so thoroughly, the Sakura exchange group had no interest in touring the school. They went through the necessary formalities, confirmed the arrangements for the upcoming exchange program, and left Imperial Capital First High in a hurry, as though they couldn't wait to be gone.
David figured that if the exchange program hadn't required them to stay at First High for a full month, they probably would have left without even going through the motions of a school tour.
But things had turned out much the same either way. The goal of breaking the morale of the Sakura group had clearly been accomplished.
Not long after the battle ended, the familiar chime of a system notification rang out in the back of David's mind.